Scott Golden elected new Tennessee GOP chairman

New chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party Scott Golden, left, and outgoing chairman Ryan Haynes watch the executive committee meeting on Saturday at the Holiday Inn on West End in Nashville. on Dec. 3, 2016.(Photo: Nate Rau / The Tennessean)Buy Photo

A divided Tennessee Republican Party executive committee elected Scott Golden as its new chairman in a race that took place under the specter of President-elect Donald Trump.

The Tennessee GOP has full control of the state government where Republicans lay claim to the governor's office and supermajorities in the Senate and House of Representatives. The GOP also has control of all but two seats in the state's Congressional delegation.

Even though there's no end in sight to the GOP's reign, the executive committee was divided as to who should lead the party. Golden, a former staffer to U.S. Reps. Marsha Blackburn and Stephen Fincher edged out executive director Brent Leatherwood in a runoff vote from inside the conference room at the Holiday Inn on West End Avenue. The final vote was 33 for Golden, 26 for Leatherwood and one undecided. Golden and Leatherwood advanced the runoff by edging out Bill Giannini, deputy commissioner for the Department of Commerce, in the initial round of voting by the executive committee.

Golden evoked the election of Trump as a chance to unify and rally the party.

"I started this campaign pretty simply, which was can this committee come together and move us forward," Golden said in his address prior to the votes. "Obviously this was a contentious election, probably the most contentious I've seen in my two decades in politics. But with the election of Donald J. Trump, we can come together, create a fresh start, reboot our party and begin looking forward to 2018. And that's it. That's the whole goal."

Republicans are hungry to turn their 10-year winning streak into a permanent majority. The hope is that Golden can take the party's fundraising efforts to the next level.

"I think we have to transition to a permanent majority party," Golden said. "We have to answer the question of not just vote Republican, but we have to say why you should vote Republican. That's how we're going to move forward and transition our party to be a supermajority party going forward.

Leatherwood addressed some internal strife that arose within the state GOP this year over lack of outspoken support for the Trump campaign. In his prepared remarks prior to Saturday's vote, Leatherwood apologized to any executive committee members who may have been alienated after he encouraged people to vote their conscience instead of enthusiastically backing Trump. He also touted his role in the GOP's historic winning streak, pointing to 800 wins by Republicans during his time with the party.

"I will admit some of our actions have caused considerable consternation," Leatherwood said. "If at any point, that has caused you to doubt my abilities, or to doubt my commitment to the party, or to doubt we would respect the decision of voters, I apologize for that.

"And yet, even in the midst of those rough waters, we were victorious. We prevailed."

Shortly after he was elected the new chairman, the job of handling the gavel and leading the meeting fell to Golden. He joked that he didn't expect to win and didn't know how to proceed, before delivering a speech he hoped would put the party's leadership on the track to unification.

"I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I will not let you down, I promise you that," Golden said. "Brent and Bill are great. They're going to be around, we're going to make sure they stay around."

U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander congratulated Golden on being elected chairman and said he looks "forward to working with him to keep the Republican Party strong and open to all Tennesseans."

Golden will be paid $110,000 per year, it was announced at the meeting.